The words “manual transmission” and high-tech safety features don’t usually belong in the same sentence. Subaru now makes EyeSight standard on the sporty 2025 Subaru BRZ, and I put it to the test on several trips into a major metro area, on highways and country roads, and even on a long drive to the airport in my city — with passengers in tow as they were about to fly abroad.
The BRZ is one of my all-time favorite small sports cars. It’s low to the ground and feels a bit like you are driving a go-kart (in the best way possible).
With EyeSight, you have a few perks to help you drive.
Pre-Collision Braking warns you about pedestrians or other obstructions and can apply the brakes for you if you don’t react fast enough.
The BRZ also warns you (visually and audibly) if you drift out of a lane. Known as Lane Departure and Sway Warning, it’s handy for a small sports car like this when you might not have as much of an angle on lane markings as a vehicle that sits higher on the road.
Lead Vehicle Start Alert surprised me a few times. It’s something I’ve tested many times in Genesis and Hyundai vehicles, and it does help you avoid distracted driving. If you are sitting at a stoplight and the car in front of you starts to drive into the intersection, Lead Vehicle Start Alert will beep to let you know it’s time to get moving again.
The tS version I tested also adds Blind-Spot Detection with Lane Change Assist to warn you about approaching cars, Rear Cross-Traffic Alert to warn you when you are reversing if there’s traffic coming behind you (which is helpful at the mall), and Reverse Automatic Braking, which will bring the BRZ to a stop when you are reversing if you might hit an obstruction.
That last feature is only available in the automatic transmission version, so I wasn’t able to test it since the BRZ I had was a manual.
That’s what makes the BRZ unique — that all of these safety features are included and available to help you drive even in a manual transmission vehicle like this. Usually, when there’s a manual, the high-tech features are stripped out.
I found the BRZ to be much easier to drive in heavy traffic, especially on the airport trip. In a few cases, the beep told me to look a little closer for oncoming traffic in the lane next to me. And I was alerted a few times when it was time to get rolling as the light turned green.
Overall, the BRZ is a fun car to drive — meant for zipping around country roads, but now with EyeSight and all of the safety features you might normally find on an Outback or a Forester, it is also safer to drive — even in congested areas.
The BRZ has become an even more viable and compelling vehicle — safer and still fun.